Perchance to Dream
by EmaniaHilel
Summary: One-Shot. Dream sequence Song-Fic. Raven's emotions decide to give her a good talking (singing?) to.


**A/N:** So, you guys remember when I said I wanted to write certain cliche'd genres of stories? Well, the songfic was one of them...and...here it is.

Yes, Raven sings. That's kind of the point of this one...

I had started this awhile ago, but never finished it. And then, the other night, Hercules played on TV and I was re-inspired. (You'll see why when you read on...)

**Disclaimer:** The characters portrayed herein, and the world in which they reside, are not my original creation. The song featured in this one-shot is not my original creation either. I make no profit from the creation or sharing of this work.

_**Perchance to Dream  
By Em**_

"_To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub..."  
_- "Hamlet," William Shakespeare

That she 'woke up' in Nevermore wasn't a strange occurrence. It was much rarer for her to have what most people called dreams. And those were usually nightmares, so she was usually relatively glad to see the barren landscape of Nevermore in her sleep.

Usually, anyway, and she was certainly not glad when she took a step and was suddenly confronted by five of her more vocal emotions standing like a firing squad in her path.

Raven took one look at the emotions present, remembered the scene that had played out on the roof just before bed, and started shaking her head. "Oh no," she spoke. "We are _not_ having this conversation."

"You have to face it," the pink clad Raven pointed out.

"No, I don't," Raven argued, trying to walk past them, but sometimes her emotions (especially when they were riled up) had more control over the landscape of Nevermore than she did and although she pushed passed them, her path was blocked by a silver-gilt, man size window.

"Oh, come on!" Raven exclaimed.

The image wavered and showed the scene that had played out not half an hour before. She watched, helpless, from a third person perspective as Robin smiled at her. _"You're not alone, Rae,"_ she heard his voice. She could still feel the warmth of his shoulder on hers where they'd been touching.

But just as she had in the moment, her heart raced and she turned her back to the image - she knew what she'd done on the roof: she'd run. It was what she always did.

She glared at her emotions.

"You're chicken," the green clad emotion announced.

"Can you blame me?" Raven asked.

All five present emotions nodded solemnly. "We sure can, honeybunch," the purple clad emotion declared. (Just _where_ she had picked up a southern accent, Raven would _never_ know.)

"As a matter of fact," her green clad emotion added, "we do."

"How many more signs does he have to give you?" the pink clad emotion asked.

"He's been throwing hints at you like they were life savers and you were the entire cast of Titanic!" the purple clad Raven said passionately.

Raven sighed. "I won't," she said, softer than she hoped to. "I'll pretend that I don't see them, I can't, that can't happen, it's not a good idea."

"Why the hell not?" purple clad emotion asked.

"She's chicken," green clad courage reiterated, matter-of-factly.

"It's more than that," Raven answered. "It's only logical."

"Oh, honey," purple said in her soft southern drawl. "You're as bad off as a rubber beaked woodpecker in a petrified forest."

She was suddenly surrounded by her emotions and from somewhere, she heard music. In the moment, it wasn't strange that her next lines come in a melody. "_If there's a prize for rotten judgment,"_(1) she sang on a sigh, _"I guess I've already won that..."_ she trailed off, turned back to the mirror and flipped it sideways, not surprised in the least when the image of Malchior in dragon form took over. _"No man is worth the aggravation,"_ she turned the mirror again so that it flipped on its axel and walked away before it could show anything else. _"That's ancient history,"_ she glared at her emotions. _"Been there! Done that!"_

Love, Happy, Passion, Courage, and Lust were once again blocking her path. _"Who'd you think you're kidding?"_ they sang in perfect chorus, _"He's the earth and heaven to you,"_ they insisted. She walked around them, pointedly ignoring them. Still, they followed. _"Try to keep it hidden,"_ they continued to sing. _"Honey,"_ Maroon cloaked Passion grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face them, _"we can see right through you."_

Raven shrugged out of her hold and pushed past the others, waving them off as if that would get rid of them, singing, _"Oh, no!"_ for emphasis.

The emotions followed her. _"Girl, you can't conceal it,"_ they sang after her. _"we know how you're feeling,"_ they reminded her. _"who you're thinking of."_

Raven whirled on them, a mix between anger and fear on her face. _"No chance! No way!"_ she denied. _"I won't say it."_ At the look on empathy's face, she shook her head and waved her hands in front of her emphatically. _"No, no!"_ she sang warningly.

Happy caught up to her, holding her so that she had no choice but to look at the reflection in the conveniently placed waterfall. _"You swoon, you sigh,"_ Happy sang, as the image of Raven watching from a beach chair in the shade as a shirtless Robin served a perfect volleyball across the net. Raven would not admit that the look at her face as she watched fit the definition of a 'swoon,' but she'd be hard pressed to prove it. _"Why deny it?"_ Knowledge asked.

"_Oh-oh," _the others chorused.

Raven crossed her arms and turned her back on the image, staring down her wayward emotions. _"It's too cliche,"_ she excused. _"I won't say I'm __in love__,"_ she sneered.

She walked away. _"I thought my heart had learned its lesson,"_ she mused and turned back to the waterfall. The image shimmered and changed to one of her and Malchior laughing in her room. _"It feels so good when you start out,"_ she let her hand trail in the water and the image dissipated. _"My head is screaming, "get a grip, girl!"_ she sang to herself, her hand still in the water.

"Get a grip girl!" Fear and Timidity screamed out from somewhere off to the right where the others had no doubt tied them up.

She turned to look, but Love turned her head back to the waterfall and the image of Robin smiling at her appeared, only to dissolve into an image of Robin dancing with Starfire as she stared. _"Unless you're dying to cry your heart out," _she sang, walking through the waterfall and dissolving it as she went, emerging on the other side dry.

The whole gaggle of emotions suddenly appeared, the way they could in Nevermore, surrounding her before she could get too far. _"If you want, deny it,"_ they sang in unison. _"Who you are and how you're feeling,"_ they closed ranks. _"Baby, we're not buyin'_" they insisted, ignoring her shaking head.

"_Hon, we saw you hit the ceiling,"_ Purple clad Love sang, not unkindly, meeting her eyes and stepping aside to show another mirror, this one in the midst of showing Robin holding her gaze intensely on the roof just before bed that night.

"_Face it like a grown up,"_ her cobalt garbed emotion sang.

"_When you gonna own up?"_ Courage challenged, pulling out a mirror that happened to be showing how Robin swung from a roof to grab her as she fell when Slade pushed her off the roof. Raven looked panicked and turned around, only to face the entire entourage again.

"_That you got (got, got) it bad?"_ they sang together.

Raven's eyes strayed back to the images of her and Robin playing like a collage on the full-length mirror, but with determination she shook her head. _"No chance, no way,"_ she insisted, closing her eyes tightly. _"I won't say it,"_ she protested, opening her eyes as the image of Robin reaching for her as she was sucked into Mumbo's hat played. _"No, no," _she sang, and then realizing that hadn't been as emphatic as she would've wanted, she shook her head again firmly.

"_Give up, give in,"_ they insisted.

Courage pried her eyelids open just in time for her to see one of her rare smiles light her face on the mirror, directed of course to Robin. _"Check the grin, you're in love," _Love sang pointedly.

Raven glared and swatted their hands away. _"This scene won't play,"_ she sang determinately. _"I won't say I'm in love,"_ she sang between grit teeth.

"_You're doing flips,"_ her emotions sang, pointing to Happy who was, in fact, doing flips randomly.

Courage took her chin and raised a brow at her. _"Read our lips,"_ she commanded.

"_You're in love," _they all echoed together.

Raven glared right at her. _"You're way off base,"_ she countered. _"I won't say it,"_ she continued before anyone else could interject. _"Get off my case,"_ she pointed warningly at Lust. _"I won't say it!" _

"_Girl, don't be proud,"_ Purple said softly, squeezing her shoulder. _"It's okay,"_ she assured her, showing her her own reflection in the mirror. _"You're in love,"_ she sang softly.

"_Oh..."_ Raven started denying again, but stopped, stared at herself for a few moments and sighed. _"At least out loud..."_ she whispered, shaking her head sadly. _"I won't say I'm in..."_

Raven sat bolt upright in bed with a start, heart racing. It took her a few moments to realize that she was in the dark of her bedroom and not in Nevermore, but the word she had been about to speak in her dream still lingered on her tongue like the tart leftover taste of an orange.

She glanced at her bedside clock and blinked at the digital numbers proclaiming that it was still before sunrise and way too early to get out of bed and start her day.

With a sigh, she let herself fall back in bed and raised the covers over her head. 'Mental note,' she thought to herself. 'Never have one of Cyborg's special meat-tastic empanadas before bed again.'

_xxxx_

**Notes:**

(1) The song that is being sung here is "I Won't Say (I'm In Love)" from Disney's "Hercules". It's sung by the character, Megara with the Muses. I thought it was specifically appropriate to Raven and her emotions.

What do you guys think?


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